4337 THE RUSAL NEW-YORKER 
chiefly as determining which parts of the 
plant varied most, thus indicating their rela¬ 
tive value for use in descriptions. 
TV. R. Lazenby, of the Ohio Experiment 
Station, gave the result of observations on 
“The Absence of Certain Plants in Soils Con¬ 
taining a Large Percentage of Lime.” The 
chestnut was given as an example of a plant 
seldom found in limestone regions, or whore 
the water is hard. Plants of t he family Eric¬ 
aceae (Heaths) are also rarely found on lime¬ 
stone soils, and this was considered the prob¬ 
able reason why the cultivation of huckleber¬ 
ries and blueberries had failed at the Ohio 
Experiment Station. 
A paper on “The Relative Times of Flower¬ 
ing and Leafing of the Species of American 
Grapes.” was presented froraT. V. Munson, of 
Texas, hut owing to its being wholly statisti¬ 
cal it was not read. 
F. L. Scribner, of the Department of Agri¬ 
culture, described a uew kind bf grape rot, 
which differed from the ordinary black-rot 
in causing the grapes to shrivel without turn- 
^ ing black. The affected berries also fall from 
the stems and do not remain on the bunch as 
do those affected by the black-rot. Dump 
weather seems even more favorable to the 
development of this than of the black-rot. It 
attacks the grapes at the time they are begin¬ 
ning to ripen and the fungus which is found 
to be the cause lives also on the berries after 
the}' are dead. It has not been found upon 
the leaves. 
H. E. Alvord, of the Massachusetts Agri¬ 
cultural College, followed with a paper on the 
“Influence of Topography on Rainfall.’’ 
Field experiments, he stated, need to be ac¬ 
companied by meteorological records for this 
particular field. He gave the results of obser¬ 
vations on the comparative rainfall at differ¬ 
ent localities at Houghton Farm. These,with 
other observations, show, 1st, that precipita¬ 
tion increases with altitude; 2<I, that hills may 
cause an increased rainfall disproportions! to 
their altitude by causing an upward deflection 
of the currents of air; 3d, hills may cause a 
variation iu the amount of rainfall by turn¬ 
ing storms aside from their courses. 
Milton Whitney, of the North Carolina Ext 
periment Station, gave the result of observa¬ 
tions on “Soil Temperatures” and explained 
their value iu agricultural experimentation. 
Contrary to the common opinion, lie had 
fouud that wot soils are not necessarily the 
coldest. 
Dr. Sturtovant, in a paper on “Cultivation,” 
showed that its chief purpose was to maintain 
moisture in the soil by keeping it in condition 
to derive moisture by capillary attraction 
# from below. He stated that in the growing 
season more water was evaporated from the 
soil thau was deposited in the form of rain. 
Moisture in agriculture is of more importance 
than fertility. The main question is “ How¬ 
to get the fertility of the soil into the crop.” 
It is useless to fertilize the soil without sup¬ 
plying sufficient moisture to make the fertility- 
available. For this purpose cultivation is 
usually the only practicable means. Mulch¬ 
ing prevents evaporation, but it is less 
valuable than cultivation iu that it does not. 
to the same degree, secure a continuous rise 
of water by capillary attraction from the 
subsoil, thus bringing up in solution addi¬ 
tional food supplies for the plants. An im¬ 
portant point brought out in this paper was 
the fact that weeds do their chief injury, not 
by extracting fertility, but by causing in¬ 
creased evaporation, thus lessening the 
amouut of moisture present. 
Dr. TV. G. Farlovv, of Cambridge, gave an 
account of a destructive disease of the onion, 
-vhich within the lust three years has become 
^prevalent in Bermuda. The failure of the 
crop has been so complete from this cause 
that the legislature of Bermuda has made an 
appropriation for an investigation of the dis¬ 
ease. At first the enemy was supposed to be 
an insect, but it is discovered to be a parasitic 
fungus uot heretofore known on this side of 
the Atlantic. Attention was also called to 
the hollyhock rust which had been introduced 
from South America to Europe and from 
there has been brought to this country. It has 
appeared in several localities near Boston, and 
as it is likely to spread extensively, affected 
plants should be destroyed as soon as it ap¬ 
pears* 
A. A. Crozier, of the Department of Agri¬ 
culture, gave the results of some experiments 
in crossing corn. It was shown that in cross¬ 
ing dent corn upon sweet the result, the first 
season, was a uniform ear somewhat different 
from either parent. This corn planted the 
following year, and self fertilized, produced 
ears containing a mixture of kernels, mostly 
approaching the dent in appearance, but also 
of all gradations in appearance between the 
sweet anti dent. The meeting was, on the 
whole, a success. Nothing very new or start¬ 
ling, it is true, was aunoiiuecd; but the mem¬ 
bers departed with renewed courage und fresh 
spirit to pursue their various courses for the 
advancement of agriculture and kindred in¬ 
dustries. A * n 
E. P. POWELL. 
Disagreement with Prof. Riley's theory; ap¬ 
pearance of the pests on several genera of 
trees; aphides generally scavengers prey¬ 
ing on decaying and. debilitated sub¬ 
stances; hop-vines diseased before at¬ 
tacked. 
I LIVE in the hop district, and I also know 
Prof. Riley very well and esteem him very 
highly; but I do not believe ouo word of his 
theory about the hop louse breeding in plum 
trees. Last year — ISSft — was the first in 
which there was a serious invasion of this 
louse. It was also enormously plentiful on 
some plum trees, mainly the English Horse 
Plum. It was equally abundant on my buck¬ 
thorn hedges, and in this county it generally 
assailed apple trees. I had it also on a few 
cherry trees. 
Now, let us see a little as to the- cause. It 
is well known to plant growers, especially 
grower* of green-house plants, that aphides 
of all sorts are scavengers. They rarely at¬ 
tack a plant that is not depleted of vitality, 
root-bound and sodden with water, or other¬ 
wise decomposing. The louse is Nature’s pro¬ 
vision for transforming vegetable decay into 
animal life. It eats up the dying foliage. 
Now mark that the trees attacked were in 
all cases those seriously depleted by hard win¬ 
ters and other causes. My Horse Plums are 
never quite well, and are a remnant of that 
once healthy stock of plums that our fathers 
delighted in. I am able, by constant cuttings 
and frequent renewals, to save alive a few 
trees. The insect that causes black-knot revels 
in the Homo Plum, and it, too, is essentially 
a scavenger. 
How about apple trees' In this section 
many orchards have wholly perished within 
five or six years, and others are in a sadly 
sick condition. My own trees in a favored 
locality and well cared for are healthy. The 
louse did uot assail them to any extent. Over 
the hills in bleak localities the weak trees were 
so loaded with aphides that it was not possible 
to walk under them. 
Now consider my buckthorn hedges. These 
had been allowed for years to grow into an 
enormous screen 15 feet high. Early in the 
year I cut them down to seven feet. The 
large amount of cutting done in a single year 
disturbed the sap distribution, and caused the 
new growth to be feeble and sickly. The 
aphides followed their instinct and took hold 
to eat. 
I do not believe the hop louse or plum louse 
or any other sort of aphis has anything far¬ 
ther to do with plum trees thau with apple 
trees and thorns, and 1 believe it does not at¬ 
tack any of these except when low iu vitality 
I believe the trouble with the hops was at the 
bottom—they were already sick when the 
louse came in. Thut we can excuse all such 
scavengers at times, ami do our own destroy¬ 
ing in a better way is true. They are, more¬ 
over, at times very useful. I shall be quite 
out of my reckoning also if the louse does not 
yet appear in yards that are neglected this 
year. Their appearance, however, may be 
promoted by weather or rapid growth. Some 
years are favorable to the development of the 
pests; othei-s are not. 
Oneida Co.. N. Y. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Every query must he accompanied by the name 
ami address ol the writer to Insure attention. Uefore 
askluc a question, please see It ll Is not answered III 
our advertising columns. Ask only a few questions at 
one t line. Put questions on a separate piece of paper.] 
BORERS ON APPLE TREES. 
C. B. t Millington, .V. J .—In an Early Har¬ 
vest apple tree my gardener discovered some 
borers. He took out several small ones, but 
there were two lie couldn’t remove, aud he 
says the tree must therefore die. Would it do 
to put quicksilver in the hole, and how much? 
3. Last fall I bought an Olmsted mole trap. 
Have uot succeeded in catching any moles 
with it. How should it be managed ? 
Ans.— 1. We fancy your gardener is a little 
hasty. One borer more or less will uot neces¬ 
sarily kill the tree. The only way to kill 
those in the t ree is to use a flexible stick or 
wire. If they cannot be reached iu this way 
it is doubtful if you cau reach them at all ex¬ 
cept by cuttingjthe tree. In the course of a 
year or two the borers now in the tree will 
escape in the beetle form, and what you have 
now to do is to prevent the entrance of other 
borers. This may be done by encircling the 
tree with a piece of thick paper, or by laths, 
or, indeed, in most cases by painting the tree 
two or three times during the summer, begin¬ 
ning the last of May, with a mixture of lime, 
soot, carbolic acid and water, the whole being 
of the consistency of thick whitewash. The 
painting should extend from just beneath the 
surface of the ground to a foot above. The 
thick paper (tar paper or felt is often used) 
ueed not come in contact with the bark. To 
leave an air space is better. Tar paper ought 
never to touch the bark. We do not see how 
it would be possible to get quicksilver in the 
the tree. The entrance hole of the grub is too 
small. If the bole is larger it is the hole made 
by the exit of the beetle. Grubs may be cut 
out when their position is fairly known, aud 
the cutting will do the trunk less harm per¬ 
haps thau the grub. 3. We have used the 
Olmsted trap aud do not like it rs well as the 
Hales trap. The spring does not seem to be 
strong enough, and it is rather difficult to set 
it just right. You might strengthen the 
spring by cutting off a piece and reattaching it. 
HOT AIR AND HOT WATER HEATING SYSTEMS. 
C. 11. IF. li., St. Elizabeth of Joliette, Can¬ 
ada.— What is the Rural’s opinion on those 
“hot air furnaces” called “Hot Blast Tubular 
Warm Air Furnaces” sold by Messrs. Graff & 
Co., 308 Water street, New York, and what 
does it think of “the Manhattan” furnace 
which the same company sells? Is it sufficient 
to warm thoroughly and easily a house 32x38 
feet and two stories high? Is the “warm 
water system” better? How much would the 
“hot air system” cost without any extrava¬ 
gance in fixtures? 
Axs.—The “Hot Blast” and the “Manhat¬ 
tan” furnaces are ranked among the more 
recent and efficient of the so-called tubular 
warm-air furnaces. Both embody the princi¬ 
ple of indirect draft by means of reverse 
flues as against the old system of direct draft. 
The air is first warmed by contact with the 
revertible flues, and passing on comes into 
contact with the direct flues aud the heating 
surfaces of the tire. Thus the motion of 
the air is generally in a direction opposite to 
that of the furnace gases. The cold air comes 
into contact with the outgoing gases which 
thus leave the furnace deprived of the greatest 
portion of their beat. Both furnaces seem to 
be well proportioned and earefully made in 
respect to both material and workmanship. 
The “warm air” system, as a general rule, is 
less expensive both in point of first cost aud 
maintenance thau the “hot water” system, 
which has tbe advantage of being free from 
the accompaniment of dust and is the more 
readily adj isted of the two systems. In very 
large buildings the former is inapplicable, on 
account of the bulky character of the hot air 
flues, aud the size of the furnace itself; the 
hot water system is preferable in such a case. 
Iu your own ease it is quite evident that a 
warm air furnace is preferable to a hot water 
system. It is difficult to say, however, with¬ 
out some further knowledge of your prem¬ 
ises, how large a furnace would be required. 
It would he well to directly communicate 
with the makers: give them the size of the 
house, in plan; the hight of the several 
stories; the number aud size and position of 
the windows and doors; send plans of the 
several floors with the uses to which the rooms 
are to be put; state whether the house is a 
frame structure aud whether the walls are 
filled in with brick; iudieate the north and 
west sides. The makers eau thou readily sup¬ 
ply the desired information. 
ABOUT TEXAS FEVER. 
F. O. C., Washington, Fans .—Last spring 
the C. B. R. R. brought 800 Texau cattle into 
this county. It was contrary to law, and the 
railroad knew it, and made the shipper give a 
bond for $8,000 to “secure” the company. 
The cattle were driven 10 miles through the 
county, aud over 100 deaths of loeal cattle 
have already occurred from Texas fever due 
to the presence of this drove, aud double as 
many are sick. I have last some, and have 
had my herd appraised. Is there any way to 
get pay for those that die, anil what propor¬ 
tion of the sick succumb! If the disease is 
due to au insect, will it get into a pasture be¬ 
side a road nloug which Texas cattle have 
passed? The Texans were quarantined by the 
State. Has the fever ever been successfully 
treated ? 
Ans. —Many of the States, among them 
Kansas, have passed laws prohibiting the 
driving or bringing into their territory of any 
Texan cattle during certain seasons of the 
year from frost to frost, or April to Novem¬ 
ber -for the reason that such cattle communi¬ 
cate Texas fever to native herds, though no 
symptoms of the disease are apparent in the 
cattle that convey the infection. The laws 
with regard to the disease vary somewhat in 
the different States, but all forbid the driving 
or transportation of such cattle within certain 
specified dates under specified penalties, to 
which the owners and transporters render 
themselves liable. The remedy for those who 
have suffered loss is prescribed by the laws of 
tbe several States—by suits against the own¬ 
ers of the Texans and those who transported 
them contrary to law. The fact that the rail¬ 
road required security bond in the present 
cases amply proves that it feared such suits 
for its violation of the law. There are no 
trustworthy estimates of the proportion of in¬ 
fected animals that recover; but the ratio is 
small among adult animals; but considerably 
larger among young beasts. Treatment Is of 
little use. The largest measure of success has 
probably been gained by giving a dram of 
carbolic acid in a pint of water three times a 
day until the animal has regained its appetite. 
Dr. Law says chlorate of potash, niter, iodide 
of potassium have also beeu of advantage. 
Recovery has also followed emollient drinks 
and enemas, soft food and stimulating fever 
medicines. The disease is developed inNorth- 
ern cattle by coming in contact with Texan 
cattle, or passing over any place which has 
been contaminated with their saliva, fceces or 
probably their uriue. Dr. Detmers says the 
saliva alone is the medium of contagion; but 
others say the excreta also share in spreading 
the disease. Roads, pastures, fodder, water¬ 
courses, etc., contaminated by apparently 
sound, healthy cattle become efficient convey¬ 
ors of the virus; but there is no instance where 
the disease has beeu conveyed by one North¬ 
ern animal to another. The contagion is 
doubtless due iu the North to bacteria, as a 
micrococcus has been found in the bile and 
blood.and Detmers claims also to have found a 
baccilus. As Northern cattle, however, con¬ 
tract the disease when takeu South, without 
coming in contact with Southern cattle, it ap¬ 
pears probable that there is some poisonous 
germ in the Southern pastures, which pro¬ 
duces the fever, and Southern cattle in appar¬ 
ently good health have the power of excreting 
this poison from their systems, thereby con¬ 
taminating the systems of Northern cattle that 
are exposed to it. 
pot-grown strawberry plants. 
E. .4. £?., Kittaning , Pa .—In a late Rural 
we are advised not to try pot-grown strawber¬ 
ry plants; why? Will layer plants, set out. iu 
September, produce a crop next year? 
Ans.—W e oppose plotted plants for several 
reasons: l. A fair proportion of those we have 
received are not properly grown. They are 
no better than strong layer plants. 2. Potted 
plants should be packed with great care, 
which is not always done. 3. If the plants are 
pot-bound they will not prove as thrifty and 
hardy as first-rate layer plants. 4. They are 
shorter-lived. 5. We had rather plant lavers 
iu the fall or spriug. 6 Tbe expressage on 
potted plants adds too much to their cost. 
Quite in opposition to our advertising patron¬ 
age, we thus give our impressions; but our 
experience may be exceptional. 
Miscellaneous 
B. F. F., Upperville, I'd.—A 40-acre field 
has been under cultivation for some years. I 
am now plowing it preparatory to putting it 
in wheat this fall and seeding to Timothy for 
the purpose of making it a permanent Timo¬ 
thy meadow. I will top-dress and harrow in 
100 loads of fine barnyard manure on the 
thinnest parts. The land is of first quality, 
free from stones, well drained, nicely rolling , 
but not bottom land. I have two or three 
tons of hen manure which I propose to mix 
with an equal quantity of wood pile and fine 
chip manure aud fine woods’ earth. With 
this mixture I propose to combine about two 
tons of fine bone fertilizer, thus getting a mix¬ 
ture of six to seven tons for 40 acres—all to be 
sifted fine enough for the drilL L Can the 
mixture be made without chern cal loss aud is 
it a good one ? 2. What changes would be 
advisable ? 3. Would it lie equally beneficial 
iu the grass and wheat t 4. How much Tim¬ 
othy seed should be sowu per acre aud when, 
no other seed being used 1 5. Would barley 
be a profitable crop here—30 miles south of the 
Potomac f «. Will the Rural soon give an 
article on barley culture ? 
Ans.—1. Yes. The mixture is first rate as 
far as it goes. 2. We should add potash iu some 
form, spreading it separately and harrowing it 
in. Kainit might answer as well as or better 
than sulphate or muriate of potash separately. 
3. What will benefit one will equally bene¬ 
fit the other, except that nitrogen iu a soluble 
form would soon pass through the soil. 4. 
About seven quarts or nine to 10 pounds—45 
pounds to the bushel. Sow before October 1st 
for your climate. 5. We should say not. 6. 
M c will endeavor to do so. In general it may 
be said that the land should be treated as for 
oats. 
C. A, W. t Freeport , III .—How do sail- 
